The Five Yen of Happiness! The JAL City Hotel, Haneda, Tokyo
- I give in – I need a break (Introduction)
- To Heathrow and The BA Galleries North Lounge
- BA902 London Heathrow to Frankfurt Airport in Club Europe
- Bumbling around Frankfurt Airport with random #AVGeek spotting
- Meeting the A350 and the Air Canada Lounge
- Qatar Airways QR068 Frankfurt to Doha
- The joy of Hamad International Airport, and The Oryx Rotana Hotel
- Qatar Airways Flight QR812 Doha to Tokyo Haneda
- The Hotel JAL City Haneda Tokyo
- Shikansen Adventures to Hiroshima!
- Time in Hiroshima (featuring the ANA Crowne Plaza Hiroshima)
- Hirosihima – 70 years on
- A day trip to Itsukushima
- More Shinkansen fun to Kyoto (Featuring Kyoto Tower Hotel)
- A trip up to Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine
- Dinner with The real_jetsetr!
- The JR Central SC Maglev and Rail Museum
- Shinkansen to Tokyo
- The Strings by InterContinental
- Cheap evening – From the Tokyo Metropolitan Building
- The JR East Railway Museum, Saitama
- Shibuya nights
- Akihabara Days
- Gotta Catch them All! A few Pokemon Centres.
- Off to Narita
- Nartia Airport, The JAL Lounge
- Qatar Airways Flight QR807 Tokyo Narita to Doha
- Four and Half Hours in Doha Airport
- Qatar Airways Flight QR067 Doha to Frankfurt
- More time in Frankfurt
- BA8735 Frankfurt to London City Airport (Club Europe)
- Homeward
- Memories
- And about that Five Yen Coin – The Sensoji Temple, Asakusa
Editors note. From here on out, there’s going to be a lot of travel and experience related things as opposed to flying. Come back in a few weeks when I go off to Narita if you want to just read the flying bits. If you’re here for the journey – the real trip begins from this chapter.
With me out of the plane, it was time to follow the signs to immigration.
Last time I saw this, it was early morning. This time – late night.
Passing through the Health check station, and then to passport control, my passport was cleared and a stamp was applied to my passport.
That stamp would be very useful the next day, as I would need it to claim my Japan Rail Pass.
With that, I headed to the luggage belt, where luggage had begun arriving. My rucksack in its clear bag followed.
Something Qatar Airways did right. Bag the luggage up.
With the bag collected, I followed the signs to Japanese Customs, and cleared it with the minimal of fuss.
And before I knew it – I was in Japan.
Signs you’re in Japan – there’s adverts for Rice Cookers
Other sign you’re in Japan: Vending Machines Everywhere!
With free Wi-Fi in the airport, I checked the times for the shuttle bus, and headed downstairs to the group bus terminal to get aboard.
Everyone aboard!
On time and to the second, the bus driver pulled out of the bay, and headed to the drop off point for me for the night – The Hotel JAL Hotel City, Haneda.
Hotel JAL City Hotel, Haneda, Tokyo
Price Paid: £47.42 via Hotels.com
Best view I could get. Sigh.
There was a small queue as I got of the shuttle bus, but I was welcomed and after completing some forms, having my passport photocopied (It’s a requirement under Japanese Law), I was given a key to my room.
Reception.
With that, I followed the signs.
Welcome to the 3rd floor…
Follow the signs.
These signs are everywhere.
And yes, there was a vending machine. But you guessed that already
So what does £47 get you for a 12ms room. Umm. Well, lets look below.
Bed.
TV, Bed, The window… and everything else.
Bed and sleep clothing
Hallway.
Trouser press.
It wasn’t overly tight – but it was…compact.
To me, that didn’t matter – it was a bed for the night and it had lighting speed wifi
20mb down/12mb up? Not bad at all for free.
Meanwhile, I was suffering jetlag, and just could not get to sleep at all. So much so I watch the light come up.
Trust me, the views don’t get any more attractive.
Eventually, at about 6am local time – sleep overtook me, and the next I knew it was nearing 9:30 in the morning. The bed itself is nothing to write home about, but it did the job in providing a soft place to sleep for the night, as well as recover from the flight.
The bathroom – like the bedroom was compact.
I was struggling to get this all in.
Bath and shower
The first of many scary toilets this trip. Not as scary as a squat… but still…
With my body slowly adjusting to Japan time, and everything packed, it was time to head off and to do some admin things at Haneda Airport
Trust me – there was admin to be done. I still needed a SIM card, to exchange my JAL Rail Pass and get into Tokyo.
With everything packed, I checked out. There were no further transactions to be authorised, so I headed to the shuttle bus.
Overall: Yes, it’s a 12m/s hotel room, but it was a good place to recover in peace and quiet as well as a grab a snooze. Considering anything more than this would be a waste of money, I got good value for money I felt – as well as somewhere to relax. And for that, that’s all I wanted from the JAL City Hotel Haneda
The bus departed after a few minutes of waiting and soon enough, it was making its way back to Haneda Airport.
Still reasonably busy.
Still wet as heck.
Next: A Shinkansen Adventure to Hiroshima!
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